1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to monitoring a patient's compliance with treatment protocols relating to a medical condition, and more particularly, to a device for enabling self-testing and medication self-administration and to a system for communicating with the device to assist in management of the medical condition.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 8,206,340 (“the '340 patent”) describes a first generation device with multiple functionalities that facilitate patient self-management of medical conditions such as diabetes. For example, the device includes a blood glucose monitoring function and an insulin injection mechanism integrated into a single unit that fits in a handbag or pocket. A microprocessor in the unit automatically calculates an insulin dosage based on a blood glucose level detected using the unit and controls the insulin injection mechanism to administer the calculated dosage. The device can also download and store treatment protocols appropriate to particular patients and monitor and report patient compliance with the protocols by interfacing with a healthcare provider for that patient. Information exchanges between a healthcare provider and the device can be performed by remote data transfer via cellular telephony, wireless cloud-based communication, or the like. Another feature automatically notifies an emergency service provider if the unit senses that the patient has failed to administer an insulin dosage within a predetermined time after the unit determines that one is necessary.
The device described in the '340 patent includes the above-mentioned features, as well as many other many useful functionalities that improve over prior art devices directed to combining blood glucose monitoring and insulin injection functions into a single unit. Examples of such prior art devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,074 and U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2011/0282173. The '340 patent is incorporated by reference into the present description as if set forth in full herein, and the present invention is capable of performing all of the functions of the device and the systems with which it interacts as described in the '340 patent. The manner in which the unit, systems, and methods described herein improve over various features of the prior art in general, and over the non-prior art '340 patent will be apparent from the description below of preferred embodiments of the present invention.